Wall Street rallies, yen gains vs dollar

Passersby are reflected on an electric stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Issei Kato

NEW YORK   – Global stock indexes advanced on Monday, with U.S. stocks rallying more than 1 percent after recent sharp declines, while the yen rose to a two-week high against the dollar after a report that the Bank of Japan is considering tweaking its yield curve control policy.

Oil prices settled more than 3 percent lower, partly as fears eased about the Israel-Hamas war disrupting supply from the region.

The Nikkei report, that the BOJ is considering adjusting its yield curve control policy to allow the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to rise above 1 percent, pushed the yen to 148.81 per dollar, its strongest level since Oct. 17.

The greenback was last down 0.4 percent at 149.05 yen.

U.S. Dollar and Japan Yen notes are seen in this picture illustration.  REUTERS/Thomas White/File

The BOJ kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting Monday. The recent surge in global interest rates has heightened pressure on the BOJ to change its bond yield control policy.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England are also meeting this week. The U.S. monthly jobs report is due on Friday.

“If the BOJ does not do anything tomorrow, which I think that’s what economists expect, and just wait until December, I think the dollar jumps right back versus the yen,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York.

The dollar index fell 0.469 percent, with the euro up 0.51 percent at $1.0618.

Stock investors also are closely monitoring quarterly earnings this week, with several big U.S. companies including Caterpillar and Apple due to report this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 511.37 points, or 1.58 percent, to 32,928.96, the S&P 500 gained 49.45 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,166.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added 146.47 points, or 1.16 percent, to 12,789.48.

Wall Street stocks posted losses for last week as economic data seemed to support the “higher for longer” interest rate scenario.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.36 percent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.86 percent.

In U.S. Treasuries, yields pared gains after the Treasury Department said it expects to borrow $76 billion less this quarter than anticipated in the third quarter on expectations of higher revenue receipts.

The Treasury said it expects to borrow $776 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $852 billion the prior quarters, assuming an end of December cash balance of $750 billion, the department said in a statement.

Yields on 10-year Treasury notes were last up 4.1 basis points at 4.886 percent, after reaching 4.922 percent earlier in the day. Last week the benchmark note hit a 16-year high of 5.021 percent.

In energy, U.S. crude fell $3.23 to settle at $82.31 a barrel, while Brent dropped $3.03 to $87.45.

Spot gold dropped 0.4 percent to $1,997.86 an ounce.